Thaindian News

Mumbai, Feb 18 (IANS) A Mumbai court Saturday extended the police custody of four accused in the July 13 serial blasts that killed 27 people and injured over 100 here, a lawyer said.

“The court has extended the remand of Haroon Rashid Abdul Hamid Naik and another accused Nain Wazeer Chand Patrija till Feb 24,” defence lawyer Sharif Shaikh told IANS.

“Police custody of another two accused Naqi Ahmed Vasi Ahmed Shaikh and Nadeem Akhtar Ashfaque Shaikh was Friday extended to Feb 27,” he added.

Mumbai ATS had on Jan 23 arrested two suspects - Naqi and Nadeem in the case. The Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) was also investigating Naik’s role into the financial trail and the conspiracy in this case.

Naik had been nabbed from the Mumbai international airport on charges of possessing fake currency notes on Aug 22, 2011 and since then was lodged in jail. Patrija on the other hand was arrested Jan 30 from Ghaziabad near Delhi.

An ATS official said that Naik had also met Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in 2001 and trained under him.

According to the ATS, Naik alleged used hawala channels to fund the triple blasts in Mumbai last year. He was also known to Sheikh Omar, the killer of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, and Aftab Ansari, the mastermind of 2002 American Center attack in Kolkata.

Three blasts at close intervals, on July 13 last year, shook the country’s diamond and gold hubs - Opera House and Zaveri Bazar - and a busy commercial area of Dadar, killing at least 27 people and leaving around 125 injured.